Flames and Fire
by FireUpTheFanFic
Summary: when the team investigate a factory looking for a suspected arsonist, the whole place goes up in smoke. Alex is trapped & missing, leaving Gene with a life or death decision..
1. The Investigation

_Here goes my first fan fic guys – I admit I'm not the best writer but I've always wanted to attempt a story and share my episode ideas with other Ashes fans _

_. . enjoy . . _

'Slow down Gov!' Alex shouted.

Another month had gone by and DI Alex Drake was still with Gene & the gang – it was starting to dawn on her that the likelihood of her getting back to 2009 was very small.

'DO NOT tell me how to drive Bols!' shouted Gene.

They were on their way to a suspect's house to bring him in for suspected arson. Factories all over the district had been set alight over the past two weeks – resulting in a few deaths. The Quattro screeched outside the address the team had been tipped off with. It was a normal looking terraced house, in the middle of a busy street.

'Right, lets av this bastard.' grumbled Gene as he stepped out of his precious car, slowly followed by Ray and Chris who hopped out of the back seats.

The four of them headed to the door and knocked.

No answer.

Gene knocked again, this time with more aggression.

Still no answer.

Alex knew exactly what was coming next.

Gene took a running jump and BANG the door hit the tiles at the other side sending a shiver down Alex's back. She wasn't a huge fan of this forced entrancing lark.

Gene, Chris and Ray walked in turning over every draw and even plant pot trying to find any clue or evidence to associate the suspect with the fires.

Alex stood in the hallway and made her way over to the small desk at the bottom of the pine staircase. She gently opened the draw and slowly combed through, looking for evidence. Nothing seemed suspicious inside. She headed towards the clattering sound coming from towards the living room. Alex walked in to see total destruction before her eyes – the three of them had turned the whole living room upside down.

'Is this really necessary?' asked Alex as Gene aggressively knocked all the books off the tall, polished bookcase in the living room.

'Alex, people have died because of this man. Who knows when or where his next attack is. Going round the house like some posh poof is not the bloody solution here.'

He did this a lot to Alex, undermined her, thinking he always knew best. Alex was the only one on the team with the valuable delicate touch.

Alex sighed and headed upstairs, the rooms consisted of one bedroom and a bathroom… she headed into the bedroom.

It was quite a tidy bedroom, and Alex was starting to have doubts if this really was the person who they were looking for. She headed over to the desk by the window. The strong sunlight made her squint as she reached down to the bin beside it. Inside was one small crumpled up bit of paper. It read;

'_Cheviot Foods Factory – Kings Road – Tues 3pm.'_

'Gov!' Alex shouted.

'This better be good.' said Gene.

She handed him the note.

'Fire up the Quattro' Gene shouted 'lets go knab ourselves a fire starting bastard.'

It was 2:30 by the time they arrived at the factory. Dozens of cars were parked in the car park outside – literally hundreds of people worked there.

'We need to get the whole place evacuated' stated Ray as they headed up to the door.

Gene stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Ray

'no shit Ray.'

Ray blushed and Chris gave off a cheeky smile.

'Why me? Why these twats?' Alex thought to herself.

'Police' Gene shouted as he entered through the door.

The whole factory stood still and stared at him. Gene had this affect with people. Alex wasn't scared of him, but she could see the pure terror in the eyes of the hundreds of people staring back at the four of them.

'Gov! Over there', Alex interrupted. She pointed towards a black balaclava covered figure carrying a bright red petrol can entering through the back doors at the other end of the factory.

'Chris, Ray – get him!' Gene thundered.

'Alex, get everyone evacuated.'

Alex was not happy with this, the team left her standing there in front of everyone. Just because she was a girl, didn't make her any less capable of catching a criminal.

She felt undermined and embarrassed.

'OUT NOW' She shouted.

The hundreds of workers headed for the door.

Alex looked to the left of her, she could she the figure with the petrol can heading towards the offices down the corridor next to her. Gene, Chris and Ray were at the other end of the factory still looking for him.

'Utter twats.' Alex muttered to herself – she chased after him.

The corridor was dark and no one seemed to be occupying any of the offices. One office door stood wide open, it was the only place he could be. She stepped into the office, taking a big deep breath ready for him to pounce. The figure jumped from the corner behind her and ran past her. 'Stop!' Alex cried, but the shadowed figure somehow ran out of the office and locked the door behind him as he went, giggling to himself – Alex was locked in - She couldn't get out!

'This can't be happening.' Alex thought as the tried the door knob frantically – it wouldn't open.

'Let me out!' she screamed hoping someone could hear her through the commotion that was occurring in the factory. She looked through the clear glass into the dark corridor. Nothing could prepare her for what she saw.

The disguised man made his way back along the corridor throwing petrol out of the can, drenching the corridor, as he made his way back into the main part of the factory.

'Oh God' Alex thought, 'Let me out! Help!'


	2. Man Down

Gene noticed the arsonist emerge from the corridor back into the factory. He was disguised through the screams and swarms of people trying to leave – he was throwing petrol everywhere.

Gene had now lost his team, and only had one thing on his mind – stop the bastard.

'Oi!' Gene shouted. The whole factory fell silent; everybody stopped and looked behind to see Gene Hunt pull a gun out from his long, camel jacket. The women in the factory gasped.

The man throwing the petrol stopped, and pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

'You put that gun down or the whole place goes alight.' He said panicking.

Gene stood there, his arm holding out the gun, not a nervous twitch in sight.

'Put the lighter down, I will shoot.' Gene ordered.

The man stared at Gene, his eyes narrowed and pure evil gazed back at the Gov.

'I don't care anymore' said the man and pushed his finger up the lighter producing a flame.

'BANG.' Gene shot him in one fire.

The whole factory fell silent. The lighter fell out of his hand and hit the ground, producing a flame as it hit the petrol.

'RUN!' bellowed Gene as the whole factory within seconds set alight.

Gene was the last out, or so he thought. He stood out on the concrete car park watching the hundreds of people coughing, and struggling to breathe. Gene let out the odd cough every now and again as the smoke chased him as he gradually left the building.

'Where the hell is my team?' thought Gene as he looked around frantically.

'QUIET.' He shouted, the swarm of people again fell silent and looked at him.

'Raymondo' Gene stated.

He looked worryingly through the crowds and was relieved when Ray pushed through and stood by his Gov's side, Chris closely followed. They were both unhurt. Gene made a sigh of relief.

'Where's Drake?' asked Gene worryingly looking at Ray and Chris.

'I dunno Gov, I thought she was with you...' said Ray, Chris nodded.

'Bolly!' Gene screamed into the crowds of people, they all gave confused expressions back. Where was she?

'Has anyone seen the female Detective Inspector we walked in with?' Gene demanded.

'No' the crowd replied.

Gene would never admit this to Chris and Ray, but he was actually quite worried.

One woman pushed through and approached Gene, she was scruffily dressed in overalls and the worried expression prepared Gene for what was coming.

'She headed down the office corridor to the sides I think.'

Gene looked at the woman, then turned around and looked at the blazing factory.

He pictured the arsonist returning from the corridor before setting the place alight, what had he done to her?

Ray noticed Gene's concerned face and quickly latched on to what had happened.

Sirens circled the factory – three ambulances, two more police cars and two fire engines arrived.

Gene looked towards the entrance of the factory, flames stood in his way. He knew it would be one hell of a challenge to get in but he had to save Alex – he wasn't leaving without his DI.

'I'm going in.' stated Gene and he headed towards the door.

'No Gov!' shouted Ray, 'it's not safe!'

Gene didn't listen, the whole crowd outside fell silent and watched him as he marched towards the door.

Just as he approached the door he felt two strong men pull him back – firemen.

'You can't go in there Sir. Its gunna blow up any minute, you need to step away.'

Gene knew that Alex needed his help and he aggressively kicked the firemen off him, running straight into the burning factory.

It was now a life or death situation…

_Is this story worth carrying on or have I just wasted an hour of my life?_


	3. Ticking Bomb

_thanks for the reviews! – I'm going to slow down the pace a little and make it a tad more descriptive, which isn't much as you'll find out. . _

Alex screamed for help until her tonsils felt like they were burning up. She was crying, the salty tears running down her face down to her trembling lips. She had heard everyone leaving and had heard the gun shot. Did he have a gun? Or was it Gene who fired the shot? She was thinking too much – her head hurt.

Although there were no flames in the office, the smoke was pouring in from the gaps in the door. She had tried the small window in the corner of the room but the big metal bars on the outside prevented her from getting out.

She was slowly choking on the fumes of the burning petrol.

In an attempt to stop the fumes reaching her, Alex had turned the whole office upside down, trying to find a towel or cloth to put under the door to act as a buffer… anything at all. There was nothing.

Alex was a strong person – she had to be, and she knew it. She'd been in many a sticky situation before but today was different, and again, she knew it. Gene didn't know where she was, neither did Chris or Ray. Alex concluded she was trapped and there was little chance of her being rescued in time.

'Come on Alex' she thought as she coughed. 'There must be a way out!'

She tried to break the door down but she couldn't. She stood next to the small strip of glass that looked onto the corridor. Even if she did manage to break the glass, Alex knew she would have to run back through the flames straight into the factory itself. The smoke circled her; she could barely even remember the way out.

Alex sat down by the far wall of the room. She felt lost, dizzy and her throat was stinging from the aggressive coughing.

Alex lay there, knowing that her time here had run out.

After successfully fighting off two firemen, Gene ran in, frantically looking around. The whole place was filled with smoke, and he cursed as he walked into a sharp edge of a table – it was so hard to see where he was going. He shouted for Alex – no reply. The crackling of the flames scared him as the large room started to feel as if it was gaining pressure as each second went by. 'The fire-fighters were right' thought Gene. It could literally explode any minute. Gene thought about backing out as the flames caused him to start choking but he kept on going towards the offices to the side. He was Gene Hunt, the mighty Gene Hunt. The Gene Hunt that had half of London quaking in their boots… the Gene Hunt that wasn't scared of anything. He kept saying this to himself over and over again

'Crap!' shouted Gene as he tripped over a body on the floor causing him to lose his footing. He could barely make out the figure. For a second he thought it was Alex, but then he noticed the black balaclava-ed covered face. He kicked the body hard. He felt so angry.

Gene made a run for the offices, he'd only been in the factory for about 40 seconds but it had felt like hours. Gene fought the flames off of his long black coat and approached the corridor.

The corridor was very thin and went back probably about 30 metres, he noticed 4 closed doors, which one was she in?

'Alex!' he shouted

'heeeelp' he heard a whimper, but he couldn't make out where it was coming from.

'Bolly! Where are you?' the terror and concern in his voice echoed through the flames.

Something was showering him with dust, he looked above him. The ceiling rumbled. Gene knew what was coming next.

The ceiling caved in onto the corridor, rubble fell and smashed the ground.

All fell silent . .

_Again, is this actually going anywhere?_

_Now if you excuse me, I have a French exam to go to._

_Au revoir mes petits amis._


	4. Finding Bolly

_Thanks for all your reviews! – Please keep them coming in._

_& Please check out my first few chapters to my Doctor Who & Ashes crossover._

_& just FYI, I don't own Ashes to Ashes – if I did I wouldn't be wasting my time posting stories on here now would I?_

_Anyhew, enjoy the next instalment…_

Alex squealed…

She had heard Gene shouting for her in the corridor, and for that one split second, she thought she might actually get out of the burning factory alive.

But then she had heard the crashing of debris as the roof slowly but surely caved in.

Dust filled the already smoky room which she was imprisoned in.

Alex wanted to go and find him – help him even, but she couldn't move. She felt paralysed.

Everytime she tried to move, her head spun and her chest tightened – she was slowly but surely choking on the smoke.

'Gene!' she whimpered.

Alex knew that the chances of him hearing her were very slim over the aggressive noise of the crackling flames but she had to do something. She felt helpless.

Thoughts flew through Alex's head. 'Will I ever get to see Molly again?' 'Is Gene dead?' 'It's my fault if he is…'

Tears filled her eyes.

Alex slowly leant forwards and crawled towards the door.

The flames were edging towards her. She reached the door handle again and frantically started pushing and twisting it – just incase. But she was still locked in.

Time was running out and she knew it…

The rubble was still falling.

Gene was crouched down, hands over his head. Pieces of ceiling were gradually falling and numbing his hands.

He was tough though, always had been and always would be.

Gene needed to find Alex and throughout the last few minutes he could here her muffled, weak cries for help. But he knew he couldn't advance down the corridor until the rubble stopped falling.

'Bolly!' Gene barked, slightly raising his head before he saw a brick tumbling directly towards him…

He quickly darted to the left, the brick narrowly missing his head.

'Where the hell are you Bolls?' he shouted, his black leather gloved hands still covering his head.

Suddenly, the rubble stopped falling. All Gene could here was the familiar crackling of the flames.

Dust had completely filled the corridors. He couldn't stop coughing. His lungs become weaker by the second. Maybe if he hadn't have been having 20 cigarettes a day then he'd be in a fitter state, he thought.

'Gene' Alex whimpered from a door to the far left of him.

The Manc Lion headed towards the door frantically.

He looked through the glass and caught a very tired looking Alex's eye.

The state she was in deep down broke his heart…

_Dum dum dum_

_Will she die? Will he die? Will they get out? _

_Well don't ask me, I still haven't decided._

_Mwahaa._


	5. The Explosion

_Here you go people – the next chapter._

_Thanks for all your reviews - Keep them coming please!_

_Laura x_

Meanwhile, back outside, ambulances rushed over to the scene.

The hundreds of workers were all gazing at the factory, speechless as it went up in smoke.

Even the ones who were choking from the fumes and desperately gasping for air couldn't take their eyes off the site in front of them.

The silence drew to a close when medics rushed over to help those injured.

Chris and Ray stood there, at the front of the crowds, but blocked off from the factory by a line of firemen. Both of them were terrified that they would never see their colleagues again.

Ray couldn't understand why his Guv had gone in… it was clearly too dangerous and even Gene knew it, but he still went in to find her. Ray knew that there must be more to Gene and Alex than meets the eye.

'Why don't you just go in there?' Ray frustratingly asked one of the firemen.

The rough looking fireman gazed back at him and ruffled a reply in an Northern accent.

'The air pressure inside is gunna cause the factory to blow up any second, and we don't wanna lose any of our men through carelessness. That man you were with was stupid to gan back in.'

Ray felt hurt and his body tensed.

'Oi, he's our Guv and he's anything but stupid. There are people trapped inside and at least he cared enough to go in, unlike you useless bastards.'

'All I'm saying is that he won't be your Guv for much longer unless he comes out in the next minute' the firemen bitterly replied.

Ray lunged towards him, tightening his fists but Chris pulled him back.

'Hurry up Guv' Ray muttered.

Ray Carling had looked up to his DCI for the past twenty odd years. He had been a huge inspiration to him, and secretly, the thought of losing his Manc Lion broke his heart.

He tried to hold back the tears – crying was for poofs.

'What happens if they die?' whimpered Chris to the left of him

Ray gave him a long hard glare.

'Don't be stupid, the Guv's tough, he'll be out in a few seconds' Ray said, trying to sound convincing but even he knew there was little hope of that.

Then it happened…

The sudden force of rushing air followed by a huge** BANG.**

Everybody outside screamed, their bodies thrown aggressively to the ground with the force of the explosion.

The whole factory collapsed into itslef, the wild flames covered the remains of the buildings structure where the tall, slanted, factory style roofing once was.

Chris and Ray were the first to stagger up from the floor onto their feet.

They looked behind them to see the swarm of screams of the people lying on the ground.

The sudden heat came at them from the fire causing Chris to dab a bead of sweat off his forehead.

They glanced at the factory and then back to one another.

'Oh… My… God…' mumbled Ray.

_**LOL**_

_Please review – hope you liked it_

_It's getting exciting innit?_


	6. The Outcome

_**Thank you all for your reviews! They are always appreciated!**_

_**Sorry for the slow updating time – things to do, people to see, you know the crack ;)**_

**Please check out my alternative ending 'one-shot' I recently published! 'The Final Countdown' **

The firemen rushed over to the scene and within seconds, began starting putting out the huge fire that had engulfed the workplace. Chris and Ray stood there and watched helplessly as a fireman called over medics to a certain point in the rubble.

They stood there, nervously watching what was going on. The two lads had seen many disasters in their time, but nothing like this, nothing that had put their colleagues in so much danger.

A stretcher and a long piece of cloth were advancing towards a section of the rubble.

'Oh God' Ray said, swallowing hard.

Whose was the body? Was it the Guvs?

His question was soon answered as two paramedics emerged from the rubble, carrying a stretcher and a body disguised by the cloth.

Chris started shaking, tears slowly filling his eyes

'It'll be the Guv or Ma'am', he whimpered, 'I just know it'

Ray ignored him as he tried to listen in to the conversation between the medic and the fireman.

He gulped when he heard the words

' 'It's a male body.''

Chris and Ray glanced at each other and slowly made their way over to the covered body, ready to identify their Manc Lion when something caught their eye.

There, to the left of them, down the side of the still burning factory, a very wary looking Gene was helping a traumatised Alex leave the scene. Both gripping onto each other for support.

'Guv!' Ray shouted, his face lightening up as he darted towards them.

Gene looked concerned and tired, his face scratched and blood smeared over his face, but he tried to give Ray a weak smile.

Although Alex had no skin damage, her lungs were weak and she couldn't stop coughing, desperately gasping for breath she stood their, feeling the cool refreshing sudden surge of wind hit her.

The medics rushed over with a stretcher as Gene gently placed Alex on it, she grabbed his black leather glove, and whispered whilst gasping for air:

'_Thank you Gene'_

**Please review if you have the time!**

**I'm thinking this is the end . . unless you have any other ideas?**


	7. Hospital

**Thanks for the reviews, here's another little instalment.**

**:D**

He hated hospitals, hated them.

And by the looks of things, Chris, Ray and even Shaz who had joined them did not look too delighted about being there.

They stood there, waiting outside Alex's room, not knowing if she was okay, or if she'd even recover.

Gene couldn't believe how close they were to dying. If he hadn't have smashed that glass the second he did and pull Alex to safety through the Fire Door at the end of the corridor, then the outcome for both of them would have been fatal.

Exactly five seconds after staggering out into the back car park of the factory, the whole place had blown up.

Gene had a few stitches placed on his cuts, but he had suffered no injuries. However, all he could think about was Alex.

His chest tightened at the thought of her dying.

He slowly adjusted his tie, loosening it from his neck.

Shaz picked up on this.

'Guv she'll be okay' she said, trying to sound reassuring but even he could detect the worry in her voice.

A flushed nurse suddenly burst out of the room, grinning.

'She'll be fine, she's inhaled a lot of smoke, but apart from that she has no life threatening injuries. You may see her.' The blonde nurse smiled holding the door open.

All four of them let out a sigh of relief, the Guv leading the way into the room, the others closely following.

The day had obviously been quite traumatising, even for Ray as he didn't even glance at the beautiful blonde nurse standing in the doorway.

Alex was sitting up in bed, and the second she saw Gene's face she sat up even further, glancing at him worryingly.

'Oh Gene, are you okay?' she asked staring at his stitches, her eyes filling up again.

'Oh Bols' he muttered 'I'm fine but you've got to stop worrying, lay back and relax. We're all okay.'

Shaz advanced towards her and gave her a big hug. 'Ma'am! I'm so glad you're okay!' she said smiling.

Alex laughed, pulling her in.

Chris and Ray stood there awkwardly, until Chris blurted out, 'You and the Guv had us worried Ma'am'

'We had you worried!' Spat the Guv, 'well, you try being stuck in a corridor that's slowly collapsing on top of you.'

Alex couldn't help but let out a little smile, but Gene picked up on it. She quickly looked him straight in the eyes again and said 'Thank You'.

Gene's eyes were about to fill up any second. He fought the tears away. His attention quickly diverted by Ray's radio going off.

'Ray, Ray!'

'Yes Viv' he said, speaking into the radio.

'There's been another fire, the factory on Dorchester Road.'

'What!' Ray spat back.

'Another fire, suspected arson'

Viv's words filled the room.

'There's another bastard on the loose' Gene roared as he shot up out of his chair.

**Please Review! x**


	8. Well I'm Stumped Literally

**A/N Long time no update!**

** I've kind of cheated you all here as this is one of the smallest chapters of all time. I appreciate all of your reviews throughout and especially the ones encouraging me to write more… but thing is that I've ran out of ideas and have no idea where to take this story next, or whether or not to just stop it here. My main priority is **_**Sherbert **_**[please check it out] (; at the moment but I'd happily update this if I can have some pointers as to where to go? Any ideas? :D**

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Gene was bewildered as he left the hospital – he couldn't believe all this had happened in one day, and to top it all off they still hadn't found the arsonist. That rattled his cage more than anything.

Yes he was glad Alex was okay, but in his opinion, none if this should have happened and he partially blamed himself.

Ray and Chris politely said goodbye to a bed bound Alex before following their Guv out of the hospital advancing towards the mighty Quattro. None of them wanted to end the day until they caught this bastard, but each of them was apprehensive of what they might find at the next scene.

Shaz offered to stay with Alex and keep her company – Alex now at this point was itching to get back out there and help the investigation but Gene had quite bluntly stated that she'd be no use to anybody the state she was in, this only dampened Alex's view on the situation.

Darkness was falling as Gene retreated to the bright red Quattro so proudly parked in the hospital car park. He wanted more than anything to just go home and sleep the bad events off, but he knew had one more job to do…

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**PLEASE HELP ME!**


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